


Holiday Dinner

by geminiangel



Series: 2018 NCIS Happy Holidays Advent Calendar [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 09:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16807846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geminiangel/pseuds/geminiangel





	1. Chapter 1

Dec 1: Holiday dinner 

“Welcome to Chez Gibbs!” Tony called merrily to the team as they arrived. 

“Tony?” McGee looked to his right curiously.

Tony’s head appeared around the edge of a curtain that had been hung between the kitchen and entry on what looked like a shower rod. It also appeared to hold a shower curtain, but it was very Christmassy and cheerful. ““Dinner will be served shortly. Coats to the small room in the left corner of the living room. Drinks and appetizers are on the coffee table. Jackson has offered to play bartender. Please, help yourself and ignore the Grinch on your right.”

Jethro threw a ‘very funny’ look at his senior agent, before saying drolly. “And pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

“Meow.” Tony made a slashing paw motion and disappeared behind the curtain.

“May I be of assistance, Anthony?”

“Everything is under control. Just mingle. Enjoy yourselves.”

“Can Tony cook?” McGee asked Jimmy.

“He can. The question should be, ‘Can he cook well?’,” Abby interjected. “Ummm... Gibbs?” A lifted eyebrow was the only response from their host. “Shouldn’t you be helping?”

“Apparently, my ‘grinchiness’ is impacting on the ‘flavor’ of the dishes. Therefore, I have been,” Gibbs raised his voice, “...exiled from my own kitchen.”

“Will you wear the apron?” A loud retort came back.

“Apron?” Gibbs glared at Jimmy and Breena pulled him to the far side of the room.

The loud noise of shattering glass made everyone in the living room freeze. “Everything’s fine. Don’t come in. Just need a bandage.”

“Dear boy, may I come in?”

“No, Ducky! I’m fine.” Tony muttered, “Mostly.”

“For the love of heaven, Leroy. Aren’t you being a bit childish?”

“Dad, he hung a shower curtain in the doorway.”

“Well, yeah, you wouldn’t let him put up a curtain rod. He wants the table to be a surprise.”

“Curtains do not belong in doorways.”

“Actually, my boy, ...” Ducky received a full Gibbs glare. “I’ll think I’ll talk to Abby.”

“If he finds out you are glaring at the guests,” Jackson growled.

“I’m allowed to glare at who I want in my house.”

“Don’t give me that lip, Leroy Jethro. You’re not too old for me to dust your britches.”

“Ouch!!” Tony’s yelp was immediately followed by him yelling, “I’m fine.”

“Leroy Jethro, get into that kitchen now.”

“No.” 

Jackson crossed his arms. “If you do not get in that kitchen, I will dye your drawers pink and starch them so stiff you won’t be able to sit for a year.” Jackson growled, “Now.”

“Everything okay, Jackson?” Tony peered around the curtain.

“Just fine, son. Leroy’s decided to help you in the kitchen after all.”

Tony smiled brightly. “Great.” Jethro moved slowly throwing one last glare over his shoulder to his father. “Don’t let them peek.” The curtain was quickly closed behind the reluctant man.

Jackson snickered. “Serves him right.”

“Jackson, I suspect your motivation.” Ducky walked up to him holding a cup of eggnog.

“He’s been as grumpy as a dog with his tail in a rocker all week.” Jackson explained. “Pooh-poohed everything that boy has wanted to do. Didn’t want a tree. Didn’t want any decorations. Didn’t want Christmas music. No Christmas movies. If I had been Tony, I would have hit him so hard up along the head that Jethro would still be spinning.”

“We were a bit surprised by the invitation to dinner.” Jimmy said his arm around his wife’s waist. 

“Well, Jethro was dead set against that, too. Tony didn’t say a word.” Jackson recalled. “Just walked out of the room. I was watching a ball game when he wheeled his bag through the living room.” He laughed. “Jethro asked just where he thought he was going. Tony told him, home. Said he was grateful to Leroy for letting him stay after the gunshot, but he wasn’t going to spend the holidays with a fun-miser; that he’d done enough of that with Senior. Tony told Leroy he was going back to his condo, putting up a tree and inviting his family for a holiday dinner.”

Abby blotted at her shirt where she had snorted her drink. “He actually called Gibbs a ‘fun-miser’?”

“Yep. It got good then. Leroy asked Tony how he planned to get up the steps at his apartment, if he was going to borrow a reindeer.” 

Abby giggled at the thought.

“Tony told him that since he’d already been helped by an ass; a reindeer wouldn’t be a far stretch.” Jackson chortled. “Leroy told him it’d take more than a few of Santa’s elves to carry him up. That’s when Tony lowered the boom.”

Tim, Abby, Ducky, Jimmy and Breena leaned in closer. They couldn’t imagine anything topping the fun-miser or ass comment.

“He told Leroy that all he needed was his phone and fifteen minutes and he would have twenty good-looking marines on the front lawn who would not only carry him home, up the stairs but fight over who got to take him to bed.”

“Oh, my,” Ducky looked shocked. “I didn’t expect Tony to be so forward.”

“I think it’s more desperation, Ducky.” Tim said. “Tony has been giving off hints for months. Gibbs has been a bit... well...”

“Clueless?” Breena suggested.

“Didn’t he notice the marines coming to pick Tony up at work?”

“He told me that Tony appeared to have made several new friends to play basketball.” Ducky sighed.

“No...” Abby looked shocked. “Poor Tony.” 

“Poor Leroy.” Jackson countered. “He looked like someone smacked him with a dead mackerel.”

“Oh, dear.” Ducky said distressed. “How did he stop Tony from leaving?”

Jackson flushed. “I may have stepped in. Told Leroy to quit being a grouch and told Tony to stop being a drama queen. Sent them both to their rooms for the night. Spent the night on the couch and dared them both the leave their rooms.”

“You go, grandpa Gibbs,” Abby toasted him.

“Next morning, I let Leroy sneak out a bit early. He came back with that and some decorations.” He gestured at the tree. “A pack of invitations, a few Christmas music CDs and a few movies on DVDs. Then he went and hid in the basement for the rest of the day.”

“What about the marines?”

“Leroy is choosing to employ selective memory.”

“Jackson, what are they fighting about today?”

“Tony decided it would be fun to be ‘festive’ while preparing dinner. Got them aprons to wear.” Jackson admitted.

“An apron?”

“Gibbs doesn’t seem the apron type,” Jimmy concluded.

“Especially that one.” Jackson confirmed. “Oh, no,” He held up one hand. “I am not spoiling Tony’s surprise.”

Tony’s head appeared again. Then he stepped out in his reindeer apron. “Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served.” With one hand on the curtain, he stepped sideways opening the doorway. The table was perfectly Tony; bright, colorful dinnerware, fun centerpieces and elegant crystal accents. At each place, a traditional Christmas cracker waited for them.

The group applauded as they moved forward and then came to a stop. 

“The first person to say one word, is on dumpster duty for the year.” Jethro growled as he stood there in his elf apron. 

Tony whapped him behind the head. “No threats. No fun-miser.” Tony continued walking past to help seat the ladies and Jethro snarled at his back. “I saw that.”

“Anthony, dear boy, where did you find authentic Christmas crackers? They are so large, much larger than the ones I remember.”

“Actually, Ducky, Mr. Grinch found them.”

“I loved these when I was a boy.”

“Shall we?” Gibbs picked up the cracker off Tony’s plate and held it out to his tormentor.

Tony smiled brightly as the cracker ‘exploded’ until pieces of plastic and electronics spilled out along with a new smart phone, a wood ring and a piece of white paper which Jethro motioned him to read out loud and Tony did so in shock. “Here’s your new phone. This is your home. I bought you music. I gave you a tree. If you want a marine, it’ll be me.”

Jackson burst out laughing. Who said his boy was clueless?


	2. Dec 2 Holiday Music

Dec 2: Holiday music 

The tinny sound was pressing on his last nerve and he gritted his teeth. Oh, to pull his service weapon and put eight slugs into that speaker. The sound of the elevator stopping made him groan.

“Okay, DiNozzo. What crawled down your throat?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Tony pulled the stop button to release the elevator.

“I do.” Gibbs slammed it again. 

“I hate this song.” Tony actually moved his hand to his weapon. “They’ve played it a hundred times today.”

Gibbs stopped to listen. He had learned to tune out Christmas music. He winced. ‘I’ll be home for Christmas’ was like shoving bad memories in front of Tony’s face. Gibbs turned to Tony and the younger man was actually pulling his gun. “DiNozzo! You cannot shoot the speaker.”

“It started it.”

Gibbs almost give a sigh of relief as the song ended only for it to be followed by ‘Baby, please come home.’ He grabbed for Tony’s wrist. “Okay, stair time.” He released the button and punched the button for the next floor.

Gibbs had to admit his senior agent was sneaky. Somewhere between the second and third floor, DiNozzo had slipped past some other personnel and disappeared. Groaning, Gibbs debated heading for the elevator, but he had a very good idea where he’d find his agent.

“You could have walked with me.”

“Thought you’d go to the bullpen.” Gibbs quirked his eyebrow in a ‘you know me better than lot’ look. “Fine, just couldn’t breathe.” Tony gripped the rail around the top of the building. The agent had managed to get his legs out under it so that he could swing his legs while looking down. 

Gibbs wasn’t even going to attempt to copy Tony. He turned and leaned back against the rail, so he could look at Tony. “You’ve been in a foul mood all day.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tony, you almost decked a bell ringer today.”

“He shouldn’t have tried to grab me.”

“He was offering you a candy cane.” Gibbs sighed. Tony was the best partner Gibbs had ever had. His antics might seem infantile it kept the tension down and morale up. He’d only seen his senior agent in a mood like this twice before; when Shepherd died and one time that Tony had disappeared leaving a leave sheet on Gibbs’ and Vance’s desks. “Talk to me, DiNozzo.”

“Just leave it.” 

Gibbs didn’t like the way that Tony was tapping his gun. “Not going to leave it. Not going to leave you.” Gibbs mentally spun the wheel. There were several possibilities. Wendy. Kate. Senior. His mother. “Senior coming to town?”

“Nope.” Tony popped the ‘p’. “He’s overseas. Some widow took a shine to him.” Gibbs waited for Tony to continue. “I’m ... I’m tired.”

“What? Are you coming down with something?” Gibbs tried to look in Tony’s eyes.

“Tired of pretending. Letting McGee and Ziva see what they want. Letting them put me down. Pretending to be the frat boy, the womanizer, the class clown.”

“Stop pretending.”

“It’s not that easy, Gibbs.”

“Tony,” Gibbs touched the younger man’s cheek. “There’s more to this than McGee and Ziva. I’ve never seen you like today. Please, talk to me.”

“Looks like we’ve seen the last of Senior. Got the official papers this morning.”

“What papers?”

Tony reluctantly pulled a folded packet from inside his jacket and handed them to Gibbs. “Apparently this widow doesn’t approve of homosexual deviants. Don’t exactly know how he pulled them off but officially, I am no longer ‘junior’. He would appreciate it if I would choose a new name and cease despoiling the DiNozzo name. Apparently, he has had to overlook my choice of employment long enough, he is not willing to overlook my abnormal relationships.”

“Tony...”

“Hey, I chose to tell him. Can’t say I’m totally surprised. It’s just... today...” Tony shook his head. “At least the kids today were wanted. Their mom died trying to protect them. They wouldn’t have even asked Senior. He’d have been like, ‘if I move over here will you have a good shot?’ I mean...” Tony shook his head. “Did I really almost knock out Santa?”

“Yep.” Jethro smirked. 

“Great. Now I’m on the naughty list.” Tony frowned. “And I didn’t even get a candy cane.” A candy cane appeared in his side vision. 

“How?”

“I explained to Santa we were on a homicide case involving children. He understood and sent you this. Asked him to stop by next week to pick up a few things.”

“Thanks.” Tony gave a faint smile. “Guess I’ll do a bit of shopping this weekend to help the elves.”

“Come here.” Jethro straightened and moved away from the rail. “Come on.” He motioned him.

“ Uh...” Tony looked over the rail and then back to the older man. 

“Do I want to know how you got in there?” Gibbs watched Tony try to wiggle back from the rail.

“Probably not.” Tony admitted sheepishly. 

Gibbs walked behind him, grabbing him by the waist and pulling Tony back against him. He walked slowly backwards until Tony could free his legs and then held him steady until his agent was steady on his feet. “Okay?”

“Yeah.”

Whap! “Never do that again!” Gibbs moved away from the edge. “Here. Now.”

“Gibbs.” Tony rubbed the back of his head.

“Now, DiNozzo.”

“One of these days you’re going to give me a concussion.” 

“One of these days you’re going to give me a heart attack.” Gibbs reach out and grabbed Tony’s tie pulling him forwards. “I know I’ve said this before and I know I’ll say it again. Your father is an ass who doesn’t know what he lost. I’ve told you before. Rule 5. Don’t waste good.”

“I’ll be home for Christmas...” Jethro began to croon pulling Tony tight. “We both will...” Jethro whispered before singing, “you can count on me.” He began to sway. “Always. Forever. Get it:” Tony began to follow the movements and laid his head on Jethro’s shoulder. “Please have snow and mistletoe...”

Tony took a deep sigh. He let the feeling of contentment that being in Jethro’s arms gave him began to melt the ice in his heart. “I’ll be home for Christmas,” he hugged Jethro. “If only in my dreams.” Tony pushed away the doubts and fears and angry. Home was where the heart was, and his heart was with Jethro. He listened to Jethro’s singing... “Where the lovelight gleams...” Tony pulled back, the lovelight gleam was in his love’s eyes. 

“I’ll be home for Christmas...” Tony joined Jethro.


End file.
